Yesterday Senators Rubio (R-FL) and Ayotte (R-NH) had a colloquy on the Senate floor where Senator Rubio made a very strong point about now not being the time to increase taxes business owners.

Here is the excerpt from Senator Rubio’s remarks:

“We don’t need new taxes. We need new taxpayers, people that are gainfully employed, making money and paying into the tax system.”

As we have said before, tax increases on manufacturers will only dampen economic growth and hurt job creation. Manufacturers are faced with countless regulations and tax burdens that harm their ability to grow. If manufacturers are able to create jobs then there will be additional taxpayers paying into the system. Piling on with additional tax increases will only harm our recovery.

Dorothy Coleman is vice president for tax and domestic economic policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Today the Senate is considering a measure known as a “sense of the Senate” that any agreement on raising the debt ceiling also require those making $1 million or more to “make a more meaningful contribution to the deficit reduction effort.” This measure is simply a resolution and has no legislative teeth.

However, any attempt to increase taxes on small business owners would have a direct and negative impact on small and medium-sized manufacturers.

More than 70 percent of small and-medium sized manufacturers file at the individual rate and would be directly impacted by such a tax increase which would hurt their ability to create jobs and grow.  Manufacturers have been leading the economic recovery and now is not the time to increase taxes on job creators. 

Dorothy Coleman is vice president for tax and domestic economic policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

A good presentation on the imperative of raising the debt limit from Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum and former director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Holtz-Eakin elucidates the arguments in his column, “The Debt Ceiling Dance.”

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner took a new tack this afternoon in encouraging Congress to act to raise the government’s debt ceiling. Earlier this week, Geithner sent a much-expected letter to Congress making it official that the United States had maxed out on it’s ability to borrow to meet its financial obligations.

At an event hosted by the Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, Geithner reminded Congress that the level of the national debt reflects funds already committed and spent.  In short, this is water under the bridge and we need address this and to move on to the future. Here at the NAM, we, too have found it’s easier to navigate the ongoing budget debate by breaking it down into the Past, Present and Future. 

In typical Washington fashion, legislators went first to the Present and after more than six months agreed on legislation that funds the federal government until the end of the current fiscal year.  We feel strongly that Congress needs to go back to the Past and raise the debt limit so that the federal government can meet its financial obligations. 

But we can’t stop there.  One reason we are in a fiscal bind is because of high levels of government spending and we must take a look hard look at federal outlays and how we can control federal spending.

Finally, on to the Future, fiscal 2012 and beyond.  The House last month approved a budget blue print and we commend House members for taking on the difficult and challenging task of identifying policies to improve the fiscal situation and to achieve fiscal soundness over the long run. Manufacturers urge the Senate to follow suit so we can start looking ahead.

Click here to view Secretary Geithner’s remarks in full

Dorothy Coleman is vice president for tax and domestic economic policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Tonight, Senate Majority Leader Reid is planning a “test” vote, to gauge the support for on increasing taxes by 20 billion dollars on major oil companies in the United States. While the odds are against get the support of 60 Senators to move forward on this legislation, this is political theater, pure and simple. The purpose of the vote is to demonize successful companies that are working hard every day to increase domestic energy production to help reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The Senators pushing S. 940 know that increasing taxes on oil companies will not lower gas prices. In fact, members on both sides of the aisle have already acknowledged this. This is simply another ruse for Senator Reid to continue his tax and spend policies that have failed, time and again. And the suggestion that any increased revenue from raising taxes has absolutely no merit and is simply laughable!

This legislation would impose punitive and discriminatory taxes on specific companies within one industry. Congress should not be in the business of picking winners and losers. Who is next, could it be your company – what is your profit margin? If Congress decides to step on this slippery slope, any business should be worried that they will be punished with excessive and targeted taxation as a result of their success.

Unfortunately, the Senate leadership has taken their eye off the ball and decided to focus their energy on impeding job growth and discouraging future investment, when they should be working alongside energy companies that are seeking to produce new domestic energy to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

The end result of this legislation would be to punish those who have succeeded in the free market and an increase in the cost of energy. This would increase in the cost of doing business, affecting the global competitiveness of manufacturers, and their ability to create jobs. This will ultimately hurt the consumer. S. 940 will only stifle any potential economic growth, which is yet another slippery slope as our nation is in the midst of crawling out of a serious recession.

Dorothy Coleman is vice president for tax and domestic economic policy. National Association of Manufacturers.

An op-ed  in today’s Investor’s Business Daily titled “Reverse Business Flight, Reform Corporate Code” by Walter Galvin echoes NAM’s sentiments that lowering our corporate tax rate would allow the U.S. to be more competitive in the global marketplace and attract business. This in turn, would create much-needed jobs. 

NAM members firmly believe that we need to reform our tax structure. The U.S. is the world’s largest manufacturing economy. In order to maintain that, we need to enact measures that will continue to drive us down a path of prosperity. Further delay on lowering our corporate tax rate will setback our economy, businesses and American workers.

As Galvin so aptly notes:

Over the past 25 years, OECD countries have slashed their average corporate tax rates nearly in half – from over 45 percent to about 25 percent. Other countries have followed their lead.

During a time when the U.S. is still on the rebound from an economic recession, we can and need to do more to help our economy. Lowering the corporate tax rate, now the highest among developed countries, is a good start.

Dorothy Coleman is Vice President of Tax and Domestic Economic Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers.

Manufacturers know that the future of their industry and their ability to compete in a global marketplace is tied closely to the deployment of new broadband lines and high-speed wireless data services across the United States and we need an environment that encourages innovation and investment in these critical areas.  That’s why manufacturers are concerned that the rules approved today by the Federal Communications Commission could inject more uncertainty into broadband policy and have a chilling impact on investment.

NAM members strongly agree with the statement by Commissioner Baker that “Preserving the open Internet is non-negotiable; it is a bedrock principle shared by all in the Internet economy, a building block on which we can all agree.”  

We also share Commissioner Baker’s concern about intervening “in the one sector of the economy that is working so well to create high-paying jobs, untold consumer choice, and entrepreneurial opportunity.”

As we’ve said many times before, Congress, not the regulators, needs to step in and adopt a comprehensive broadband policy aimed at the deployment of services, open access and smart resource allocation , including policies that:

• Remove barriers to entry that prevent broadband providers from offering high-speed information services to homes and businesses;
• Balance the need for regulations against the potential to dampen private industry’s incentive to invest in broadband technology;
• Encourage federal and state regulators to monitor the rollout of broadband services;
• Support a federal framework to ensure fair, technology-neutral competition for all providers; and
• Allow for the continued public/private collaboration to improve the security of the network through incentive-based legislative and regulatory tools.

Manufacturers appreciate efforts at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to bring closure to the debate over regulating the Internet. Providing certainty in this area will encourage the deployment of new broadband services and the jobs that go with them. But  comments today by FCC Commissioner Julius Genachowski and his plan for the Commission to adopt a Net Neutrality Order at its December 21^st Open Meeting just create more uncertainty. We share the views of Commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker that the decision of “whether the Internet should be regulated is a decision best left to the directly elected representatives of the American people.”

Ensuring the deployment of new broadband lines and high-speed wireless data services is critical to manufacturers across the nation – these are the companies that can create the jobs we need to strengthen our economy. In the end, Congress needs to step in and adopt a comprehensive broadband policy, and it should be aimed at the deployment of services, open access and smart resource allocation, including policies that:

• Remove barriers to entry that prevent broadband providers from offering high-speed information services to homes and businesses;
• Balance the need for regulations against the potential to dampen private industry’s incentive to invest in broadband technology;
• Encourage federal and state regulators to monitor the rollout of broadband services;
• Support a federal framework to ensure fair, technology-neutral competition for all providers; and
• Allow for the continued public/private collaboration to improve the security of the network through incentive-based legislative and regulatory tools.

In the words of Commissioner Baker, “We all believe in an open Internet.  It is open today, it is fast moving, and it serves as a vibrant growth engine for our economy and job creation.  Let’s not rush to undermine it.”

Dorothy Coleman is vice president of tax and domestic economic policy for the National Association of Manufacturers.

Almost 1,300 organizations this morning joined together in sending a  letter to all members of Congress asking them to “extend the extenders” during the lame-duck session.

Effective Jan. 1, 2010, a number of temporary tax provisions that benefited a wide range of individuals and businesses expired. Despite broad-based support for these provisions, Congress has yet to extend these important tax provisions.

The National Association of Manufacturers and other organizations signing the letter say the current lame-duck session gives legislators one last chance to extend these important tax incentives.  If Congress fails to act, taxes will increase for a wide range of taxpayers and job creators including manufacturers, teachers, developers, retailers and farmers.

Dorothy Coleman is the NAM’s vice president for tax and domestic economic policy.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, John Chambers, chairman and chief executive officer of Cisco Systems and Safra Catz, the president of Oracle Corporation, lay out a strong case for lowering the tax U.S. companies pay when they bring back overseas earnings.  Under current tax policy, U.S. companies could pay almost 40 cents in taxes for every dollar of overseas earnings they decide to “repatriate” back home.  That’s a clear disincentive. 

And as Chambers and Catz point out, “… with corporate bond rates falling below 4%, it’s hard to imagine any responsible corporation repatriating foreign earnings at a combined federal and state tax rate approaching 40%.”  In contrast, lowering the “toll charge” to roughly five percent would unleash as much as one trillion in to the U.S. economy, a private stimulus that could be used for job retention and creation, as well as other types of much-needed  “homeland investment.”

Their op-ed is, “The Overseas Profits Elephant in the Room,” with the sub-headline, “There’s a trillion dollars waiting to be repatriated if tax policy is right.”

Dorothy Coleman is the National Association of Manufacturers’ vice president for tax and domestic economic policy.